I&#39;d love to see the pictures. Looks like my wind magnet theory is holding up. 20 kt on a "light wind demo day"!

20th March 2007 11:00 AM

Roger

RE: Serenity

Hi Randy,
We had some "wild and wooly" sailing on the Serenity on Sat. in Panama City.
Wind was 20 knots + and I took the Serenity out with a 4.2 m2 Sailworks Hucker and a 38 cm True Ames Shallow Water fin.
Amazing.....just amazing.
The bow wave moved all the way back to slightly behind the mast foot, and the Serenity was just ripping along.
Got it going so fast that the short wide fin was beginning to get hard to control the roll on. Even with a very small 38 cm wide blade, that board was wanting to "turn over" like a longboard with too much centerboard.
I hope to get some pictures from Saturday&#39;s Demo with Hydrotherapy so others can see that the Serenity really isn&#39;t just a super light wind board.
Hope this helps,

20th March 2007 06:48 AM

Randy

RE: Serenity

Did my first railride, almost like the video. (Well actually, he did his on purpose, mine just sort of happened when I got overrailed.) Does seem like this will be an easy board for railriding!

18th March 2007 03:35 AM

steveC

RE: Serenity

Hi Tiesda,

The video was quite interesting and readily showed many of the great performance attributes associated with the design. One of the views that I really liked were the elevated shots where in the clear water you could really see the sailors relationship to the fin. The balance was very nice, and could better grasp why it works so well in light wind.

17th March 2007 02:08 PM

Tiesda You

RE: Serenity

Hi everyone,

We&#39;ve recently added a mini Serenity video clip on the Serenity product page (http://www.star-board.com/viewpage.php?page_id=37). It&#39;s a pretty small clip and we didn&#39;t always have the best lighting conditions but I think it&#39;s pretty good at showing how nicely the Serenity glides and picks up speed in very lightwinds.

In the video the wind didn&#39;t exceed 5 or 6 knots yet we had lots of fun gliding along and racing each other. Hope you&#39;ll check it out.

Cheers,

Tiesda

13th March 2007 12:04 AM

Randy

RE: Serenity

More impressions.

I&#39;ve now sailed Serenity in 9 sessions, with sails from 6.0 to 7.4, and with both the big and small fin, as well as a very small weed fin.

First, the biggest concern I had was that she would be too limited to light winds - being too much of a handful in the normal 5-15 mph days that are frequently the type in which I sailed my longboard. But, such days are no problem. While I wouldn&#39;t sail Serenity in a solid 15 mph wind, a gust of 15 in a light day is no problem at all, and lots of fun. She does seem to "top out" on speed, though I am learning to move my weight further back to increase speed when planing. Fin and sail size might address this (perhaps making one or both smaller once topped out might actually increase speed.)

Second, the big fin really makes a big difference in lightwind sailing, though if you are maxed out (10 kt or more) the smaller fin might be quicker. Serenity responds a lot to fin changes. Makes me think it might make more sense to change fins than sails if the wind changes. It will be interesting to try other types of fins.

Third, part of the fun of this board is that I feel like I am learning to windsurf all over again. Not that it is that much different at all, but I have to be much more precise in foot movements, sail sterring etc. It makes very nice light wind jibes since it carries speed well, though you can easily upset your trim by bad foot movements. Sailing downwind is not that hard, but it takes some care. It makes sailing a lot more challenging than a conventional longboard. I notice my right hand/left hand issues much more, and realize how "handed" I am. I think Serenity may actually help me improve my shortboard sailing since it needs more precision and balance.

The added length is not really much of an issue on the water -compared to a conventional longboard the length, turning radius, etc is just not a big deal. It weighs a lot less than my old longboard, so its easier to get on top of my car.

I do miss the footstaps some, though it probably would be hard to figure our exactly where they should go. For a long time I could never get into the straps on my old race longboard, and I got pretty good at sailing w/o them. (Brings back memories for sure!)

I don&#39;t know how helpful an adjustable centerboard/track would be. In reviewing my old longboard sources, it is normally recommended to maintain a full down CB in winds less than Force 3 along with a forward track anyway. If there is a Serenity II, perhaps a (paritally) retactible daggerboard would be the way to go.

2nd March 2007 06:33 AM

Roger

RE: Serenity

Hi Randy,
I&#39;ve sailed the Serenity with up to a 9.0 m2 Severne Gator, but I find that sails larger than 7.5 (a Retro) really didn&#39;t give me much more speed or angle, but they were alot harder to balance and uphaul.
Since I find the new &#39;07 6.6 m2 Hucker with 6 battens to have very nearly the same low end power as my 7.5 Retro I chose the 6.6 Hucker for Don&#39;s test drive based on the most power in the smallest package.
It was also somewhat for convenience as I had both the &#39;06 7 batten 6.6 m2 Hucker and the &#39;07 6 batten 6.6 m2 Huckers rigged so the demo sailors could see the difference between a 6.6 Hucker rigged on a 460 Sailworks Backbone RDM (the 7 battten late &#39;06 model) and a 6.6 &#39;07 Hucker (6 batten) rigged on a Sailworks 460 Lightstick SDM.
So, getting the most power in the smallest package is a very good thing when sailing the Serenity. Bigger sails don&#39;t seem to be needed!
Hope this helps,

1st March 2007 06:44 PM

Randy

RE: Serenity

Roger,

Was the use of the Hucker based on mere convenience, or is there a reason to prefer that type of sail with Serenity?

1st March 2007 07:12 AM

Guest

RE: Serenity

Hi Don,and all you other sailors interested in the Serenity,
Just to set the record straight, the sail Don was on was the &#39;07 Sailworks Hucker rigged on a 460 Sailworks LightStick mast with an HPL slalom carbon boom.
The fin Don used was a Tangent Dynamics Reaper 46 cm weed fin.
I&#39;m really glad he had a good time on the Serenity, and it was wonderful to finally meet him and get him out on the Serenity.
Thanks for your kind comments,
Roger

1st March 2007 06:22 AM

Don

RE: Serenity

HI Randy,
I sailed the serenity in Sarasota on Sat. Roger is the best kept secret in windsurfing. I don&#39;t know what his arrangement is with Sailworks
sails or Starboard but he is the best industry rep around. I really
thank you Roger.
I was fortunate to have the Serenity to myself for about two hours.
I am not an accomplished sailor. I would probably be considered a
good intermediate. I am not an expert.
I never fell on a tack at any time. The board does come around
slowly but not terribly so. On a beam reach the board feels very stable. I did not feel uncomfortable at all. When the wind was on and
off like a switch you do notice the lack of width in adjusting for the gusts more than on a wider board. In a complete lull you are more
unsteady than on a wider board. Still the board was stable enough that I did not fall off. I found little or no evidence that a heavier
sailor would have more trouble. I weigh 230 lbs. Not exactly a light
weight. I, also to my surprise, thought I would miss the foot straps.
Not a problem, the deck pad is very non-slip. The winds were
between 0 and about 12 mph. For the most part I would estimate
the winds at 8 to 10mph. The Sail was a Sailworks 6.6 and the
fin was a 36cm weed fin.
The most difficult sailing is off the wind, a broad reach or
straight down-wind. I did fall off attempting this. I beleive with
practice that I could learn to sail downwind. Uphauling is not
a problem at all. No more difficult than on my Mistral Competition.
It is much faster in light wind than my competition as I came
back to the launch and then immedeately went out on my
competition. I felt like I was standing still. The Serenity was
so much more fun in the light winds that I quit sailing for the
day rather than stay out on the competition. i think the board
is much eaiser to sail than what I had been hearing on the
internet.. Any questions , let me know
Don

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